


Hermitcraft Backstories

by Icypolargirl78



Series: Multi-Creatures AU [4]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: As I add more parts, Blood, Gore, I greatly appreciate the help, I will update the tags, M/M, Mind the Tags, Please tell me if I need to add certain tags, This is my first time writing in this type of graphic style, dead dove do not eat, lots and lots of blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:42:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27693622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icypolargirl78/pseuds/Icypolargirl78
Summary: This is a book for me to elaborate on the backstories of some of the hermits in my work. Ice and Fir will not be included since I will be going over there backstories in depth in my main fic. Just as a side note, you don't actually need to read this book to understand my other work. However, upcoming chapters in "Even Angels Have Their Demons" will reference things that have happened in this book.WARNING THIS FANFICTION CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF GORE, BLOOD, AND DEATH. IF THAT SORT OF THING TRIGGERS YOU. DO. NOT. READ. I REPEAT. DO NOT READ. I DO NOT WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR TRIGGERING ANYONE.
Relationships: I might edit the tags later - Relationship, Mumbo Jumbo/Grian, really just background relationships
Series: Multi-Creatures AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1923319
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	1. And I'm Hollow

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING THIS FANFICTION CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF GORE, BLOOD, AND DEATH. IF THAT SORT OF THING TRIGGERS YOU. DO. NOT. READ. I REPEAT. DO NOT READ. I DO NOT WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR TRIGGERING ANYONE. 
> 
> I know that I already said this in the summary, but I am putting this here again. DO NOT read my fic if graphic depictions of death and gore trigger you. Also I am adding trigger warning at the points where blood and gore is described in graphic detail. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Grian ran through the castle. His footsteps were too loud. His clothes rustled too much. His wings dragged behind him. He knew he had to get out of there. Taurtis and the rest of the Evo members needed him. His eyes caught sight of the door. He could finally leave, escape the End, and get back to the overworld. 

He rammed the door open and sprinted out into the End proper. The castle loomed behind him as he launched himself into the void. His wings snapped open and he headed for the main island. The large obsidian pillars reached up into the black sky, the end crystals spinning and glowing atop them. He could see the portal’s frame, it was so close. And then he was falling through the portal, stars lit up his vision and then he was in the overworld. 

(TW: The next part contains blood, gore, and viscera. If this kind of thing triggers you, DON’T READ.)

He looked around and his heart stopped. The world that he’d spent so much time on was burning. As he turned his eyes landed on a person, Pearl. She was lying on the ground. Grian ran over to her body, and nearly broke out into tears. Her body was mutilated and had he not spent so much time around her, she might have been unrecognizable. 

One of her eyes had been torn out, the optical nerves and tissue still connected to the eye which hung on her cheek. Blood dripped from the empty socket, and Pearl’s nose was bent at an odd angle. Her pale gray hair was matted, and a part of her skull was caved in, like she’d been hit over the head with a heavy object. Her lower jaw had been partially ripped off, and there was an arrow sticking out of her neck right where her airway was. Her remaining eye was dull and glassy, open but unseeing. 

He forced himself to look down and his eyes widened even more. Pearl’s left arm was bent at an unnatural angle and he could see fragments of bone poking through her gray sweater. Her hand was wrapped around the hilt of an iron dagger, like she’d tried to defend herself. The sword buried in her gut told him that his friend had been easily defeated. The diamond hilt was splattered with blood, the red liquid drying in the hot air. Grian carefully removed the blade, and recoiled at the squelch that resulted from the action. Without the metal holding in the blood it rushed out further staining the gray sweater. 

Part of her ribcage had been shattered, and a few of the bone fragments were bright stars against the bloody shreds of her intestines. Parts of the muscle had been partially dissolved by the hydrochloric acids that spilled from a gash in Pearl’s stomach. The only part of Pearl that seemingly hadn’t been ripped apart were her legs, but placing his hand on one of them, let Grian feel the shattered bones. He let out an anguished scream and pulled his friend’s body onto his. He cradled her broken form in his arms as his tears fell onto her face. The salty liquid made small paths in the blood. He carefully closed her eye and if it weren’t for the other one she might have been sleeping. 

He looked at the sword, and saw  **their** symbol. He set Pearl on the ground again. He whipped the tears away smearing blood across his cheeks. Grian spread his wings, and he shot into the sky. He surveyed the area, and saw the forest on fire. The smoke rose into the air and stained the sky black. The red flames burnt the green of the leaves to a charred chrisp. He knew where  **they** would be, the stronghold. The last two times he’d escaped that’s where they’d been waiting for him. 

He landed on the ground, and as he ran through the forest he caught glimpses of his friends. Martyn had been decapitated, his head sitting in his lap, blood staining the stump of his neck. Netty was hanging from a tree via a purple noose made out of magic. Muka had multiple arrows sticking out of his throat. Salem had her own sword pierced through her armour, blood staining the metal. The rest of his friends that he passed by had various gruesome injuries that he knew they would never recover from. The only person he didn’t see was Taurtis. Grian could only hope that his friend had managed to get away. 

The cave that held the stronghold came into view. He gripped the hilt of the diamond sword and steeled his nerves. He carefully approached the entrance, and could hear a few voices talking. 

“Do you think he saw.” A low gravelly voice said.

“He couldn’t have missed it. I made sure of that.” The other voice laughed. “Besides we have his little friend, so he’ll be sure to come.” 

Grian’s blood ran cold, they had Taurtis. He growled, he would save his friend if it was the last thing he did. Slowly he crept along the floor keeping his back pressed against the wall, he winced as his wings scraped against a jagged stone, but he didn’t make a sound. As he rounded the corner to where the portal rested he could see Taurtis tied up next to the imposing figures the voices belonged to. His friend was gagged, and looked small compared to the Watchers. Their large purple wings matched the color of the long robes that covered most of their bodies. 

“Ah Grian how nice of you to join us.” The first Watcher turned and their smile seemed to look straight into his soul. Grian didn’t speak, he didn’t say a word. Instead he rammed the sword straight into the Watcher’s chest. It sunk down to the hilt, as purple blood trickled from around the blade. 

Then something changed. The blood turned red, and the Watcher shunk. Grian’s sword was buried into Taurtis’s chest. His friend let out a choked sound as tears of pain spilled from his eyes. He collapsed onto the ground, as Grian let out a scream of anguish. 

“Hey Gri,” Taurtis grinned despite the obvious effort it took, “Not really how I expected to go out, but I guess I’ll die by your side.” 

Grian heard the laughs of the Watchers, but it didn’t match the ringing in his ears. The light was fading from Tautris’s eyes, and as he pulled the sword out of his chest, he staggered to his feet to give Grian one last hug. Then he collapsed against Grian’s chest, his blood soaking into the already red sweater. 

“Live for us Grian” Was the last thing Grian heard before he felt a sharp pain in his head and everything went black. 


	2. I Won't Sink, I Won't Wallow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mumbo is worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished the chapter. Yay
> 
> Chapter titles taken from the song Hollow by Cloudeater.

It had been a month since Mumbo had heard from Grian. A month since the last buzz of his communicator. Since the message of “I’m getting out of here” came through. And to say the vampire was worried was an understatement. It wasn’t like this was the first time Grian went on radio silence, but it had been by far the longest. 

All Mumbo knew was that Grian had been abducted by a mysterious group known only as the Watchers and that he’d made two previous escape attempts, both of which had failed. When Mumbo had asked if Grian was safe, the avian had only told him not to get involved. It was getting a lot harder to keep that promise. 

Mumbo’s worries came to a head when a buzz came from his communicator. He assumed that it was one of the other hermits, but he was sorely mistaken. The message came from Grian with only one word.  _ Help!  _ That did it. Mumbo flew to Xisuma’s base. 

“X, I need your help.” The admin looked confused, but pulled out a chair and offered Mumbo one. 

“What do you need.” 

“It’s Grian,” At the mention of the name, Xisuma looked up from his communicator.

“Your avian friend in the other world?” He asked.

Mumbo nodded, “He-He told me that he was going to do something. Something risky, and told me not to worry about it. But it’s been a month since I last heard from him, and I’m scared X. I’m scared he might be hurt, or worse.” He shuddered at the thought. 

The admin looked concerned, “Do you know what world he’s in.”

Mumbo nodded, “He’s actually the admin of a world called Evolution, or Evo for short.” 

Xisuma messed with his communicator for a bit until a bright screen popped up. He fiddled with it until his eyes lit up from behind his helmet. “I’ve located his world. Although it’s weird.”

“Weird? What do you mean weird.” Mumbo asked, brows furrowed in a mixture of anxiety and confusion.

“You mentioned, during the last time we talked about him, that he wasn’t the only person living in the world, right?” 

Mumbo looked at X, trying to process what the admin was saying, “Yes! Grian along with a few of his friends; Taurtis and Pearl, to name two.” 

“Well my screen is only showing one person currently living in that world, so unless your friend can somehow cloak the powers of an admin.” Xisuma showed him the screen which showed what looked to be a circle or a bubble. In the outer edge of the circle stood a single blinking dot. “Now I’ve seen some weird things as an admin, I mean this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a world with only one person. One of the weirder worlds I’ve seen was a world with two people, although one of inhabitants had a completely glitched out respawn. It made their respawn very unstable, even worse than Scar’s, but they manage.” 

Mumbo did find that very interesting, but he was much more worried about Grian, “Okay, X that is very cool, but can we get to Grian to make sure he’s okay.” 

“Yes! I should be able to get a portal connection to his world, I’ll contact you when it’s ready.” With that Xisuma shooed him out of the base. 

It was nearly three hours later, when his communicator buzzed. He’d spent those hours with Iskall and Ren, who’d heard about what had happened. They’d attempted to calm him down, but Mumbo’s nerves were fried. So when the message from X came through he’d activated his elytra and took to the sky. The portal was already glowing with a ghostly red light when he landed. Xisuma was geared to the teeth with an enchanted set of his normal grey armour. He had a grim expression on his face, or at least Mumbo assumed he did since it was mostly covered by his helmet. 

“Are you ready?” Xisuma asked as he handed Mumbo a sword that glimmered with enchantments.

“Yeah, but are you sure all this is necessary,” He gestured to the armour and weapons, “I mean, it’s only Grian, right?” 

“Anything that can make an entire group of people disappear entirely, is enough to make me nervous. And if I’m being honest, I don’t think it’s just your friend there.” The admin caught the edge of the portal, looking back at Mumbo, “Let’s go.” 

Mumbo stepped up to join him, and together the pair stepped into the glowing red light, leaving the Hermitcraft world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is gonna be part three. I will include trigger warnings since it will include graphic depictions of abuse, mental manipulation, gaslighting, and starvation.


	3. I Stay Empty, I Feel the Hunger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grian is rescued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, this is the final chapter in the trilogy of Grian's backstory. Now this doesn't mean that this book is over. Merely that Grian's backstory is done. I'm planning on doing Scar's next.

You are hungry. God, you're hungry. You haven’t eaten in what feels like forever. Time doesn’t exist here. You’re sure that if you looked at your chest you could count your ribs. Your skin is a sickly grey. Hardly any pigment left. You curl up into yourself, wings trembling. Almost all of the feathers have been picked out, most from stress. Mumbo would tell you not to. Tell you that it wasn’t good for you. Taurtis would say the same thing. But Taurtis is gone. The image of his last smile is permanently etched into your mind. The memory is stained red. You are so lost in your own thoughts that you don’t hear the frantic footsteps running down the hall. And the voice calling your name. 

Grian was tired, and cold. The end wasn’t exactly a warm dimension. His sweater was threadbare, and he refused the don the heavy cloak that  **_they_ ** gave him. His stomach was completely tied up in knots. Even if he got food, he’s sure he’d just throw up. His throat felt raw from the last time he puked.  **_They_ ** had brought him bread, and rabbit stew. He’d made the mistake of eating too quickly. He was emaciated, his throat closed in on itself. 

**_They’d_ ** whispered to him. Filling his ears with words of hatred. Words that reminded him of what he’d done. Taurtis was dead.  **_They_ ** reminded him. Dead because of him. Dead because Grian was impatient and let emotions get the better of him. 

The creaking of a door drew his attention. Through the fog that clouded his mind, he realized that  **_they_ ** were back. He could smell stew. And he could see a glass of water. His throat begged for him to accept, his mind wanted to deny, but he would die if he didn’t take it. Death by starvation was slow and painful. Grian would rather not experience it. 

“ **Hello little bird** ,” The watcher cooed. “ **We brought you some food** ,” They set the bowl down near Grian’s head, and the scent of broth and rabbit made him crack. He grabbed the bowl and gulped down the stew. The broth was thick, and the rabbit was tender and juicy. Within a minute he’d downed the entire bowl. His mistake. Grian could feel the way his stomach protested against the food. The feeling of bile forced its way up his throat. Stomach acid burned his mouth and left an awful burning sensation on his taste buds. The taste wasn’t much better. The acid mixed with the once delicious stew stained his mouth with disgust. 

The worst part wasn’t even the sickness. It was the constant stroking of his wings. The watcher was cooing at him. Stroking the bony edges of his primaries. They handed him the glass of water, and he drank it. His stomach protested once again to the contents, but it stayed down. The liquid also soothed the burning feeling in his throat. 

The cycle of abuse continued. Grian tried to keep track of the days, but it grew harder and harder since day and night didn’t exist. The Watcher’s continued to fill his head with whispers and voices of violence. It was awful. He tried to tune it out, but it was so hard. He was slipping. He couldn’t remember anything. It was so hard to keep afloat. So he didn’t. Grian gave up. He sank deeper and deeper into his head. The only time he was even the slightest bit there was when  **_they_ ** brought him water. 

  
  


Mumbo ran down the hall. He could hear the sounds of the fight. Xisuma was keeping those  **things** busy. “GRIAN!” He called out, he was so worried. They’d entered the world and were met by ash and blood. It was awful, the stench of death permeated through the air. The half rotten corpses were the worst part. Bones bleached in the sun, and burnt skin exposed to the air. Disgusting was an understatement. 

Still as Mumbo ran through the castle he could only desperately hope that none of the bodies belonged to Grian. He called out again when he turned down a hall. It only had one door. He opened it. He was hit by the stench of acid and rotting food. But hunched in a corner was a small figure. It was shaking, and as Mumbo approached he could see that the shaking was coming from a pair of wings wrapped around the person. It was Grian. 

You’re cold, and trembling. But you don’t feel it. You don’t feel anything. Distantly you can hear sounds of conflict, but you don’t care to leave. The last time you tried it,  **_they_ ** broke your right wing. You don’t think it healed right. It aches everytime you try to move it. There’s that noise again. It’s louder, and it sounds oddly like your name. But, that’s not right. No one is coming to save you. You’re not worth saving. You just ruin everything you touch. The purple burns etched into the wall around you prove it. 

Mumbo ran forward and grabbed Grian. He barely reacted. His wing flailed a little bit, the right one twisted at an odd angle. Grian wasn’t facing him, so Mumbo carefully turned him around. He almost wished he didn’t. Grian’s face was thin. His normally bright eyes, now dull and sunken into his cheeks. His hair was a mess and piles of feathers were scattered around the room. His wrists are thin and his sweater hangs off his body like a sheet. He looks barely alive. 

Someone grabs your shoulder. Your mind can’t really process it.  **_They_ ** almost never touch you. The last time they did. You shudder. It was when they held you down and forced that magic into you. It burned like lava, coursing through your veins. You spent the rest of the day throwing balls of purple energy at the thick walls. It didn’t work. 

“Grian,” Oh that’s your name, right? “Grian can you hear me? It’s me Mumbo.” The voice sounds worried and the touch grasps a little more firmly. You want to get back to your body. You’re tired of floating in the darkness. “Grian please.”  _ Hold on  _ you think. You’re trying. You flail and kick and struggle, and finally, you reach the surface. 

Mumbo was half ready to start shaking the avian as he let out a gasp. A little bit of light returned to his eyes, and he looked around. 

“M-Mumbo.” By the nether his voice was hardly even there. Barely above a whisper. 

Mumbo pulled him into a hug, and was horrified when he could feel Grian’s bony ribs pressed up against him. “Oh end, Grian what happened to you?”

The avian let out a raspy cough, it racked his entire body. 

“Never mind don’t answer that, we can talk later. Once we get out.” Grian clung onto Mumbo’s wrist.

“D-Don’t go, p-please.” Mumbo could feel his heart crack, small splinters made from just the desperation in Grian’s voice.

He scooped the blonde into his arms, it was unnerving how light he felt. What was worse was the sight of Grian’s nearly featherless wings, hanging limply. “Oh Grian, I’m not going anywhere, you’re coming with me, X should, well Xisuma is hopefully still ready to go.” The sounds of fighting had dimmed, and Mumbo could only hope that meant Xisuma had incapacitated or killed those creatures. The vampire hoped it was the latter rather than the former, those things deserved death. 

“ **Stop!** ” A growl came from the doorway. Grian shuddered at the voice. One of the creatures was standing, blade in hand, but it had a nasty gash across their face. 

Mumbo set Grian down brushing off his hands as they gripped at his suit jacket. “Don’t worry I’ll be right back.” He assured the small hybrid. 

Mumbo drew his own weapon, a diamond glaive with an iron handle. The extra reach was nice, considering his opponent was at least a foot taller, and has a lot more muscle mass. 

Grian curled in on himself once more. He didn’t want to watch Mumbo die. He knew he would truly break if he saw it happen. The clang of weapons, the screech of metal. Loud. So loud. He wanted it to stop. Please make it stop.  _ Why aren’t you helping?  _ What.  _ Why aren’t you helping, you say you haven’t broken yet, so why aren’t you fighting?  _ Grian struggled to knees, that was hard enough. He looked around.  **They** had Mumbo pinned to the wall. The vampire was using the long handle of his glaive to stop  **their** sword from cutting into him. Grian summoned the last of his energy and sent a bolt of purple magic straight into the watcher. They collapsed, writhing in agony as the magic consumed them. Eventually they stopped, but by then Grian had collapsed as well. Not dead, just exhausted. 

“Oh good you found him.” Mumbo looked up, Xisuma was standing in the doorway. The admin sheathed his sword. “Seems like he’s the one who saved you.”

Mumbo opened his mouth to protest, but he was cut off by a groan from the avian lying on the ground. “Grian!” The vampire ran over and picked Grian up. His eyes were closed, but he opened them once he was in the air.

“Hi.” His voice was still quiet, but his eyes held a bit more light, more spirit. He turned his head to face Xisuma, “N-nice to meet you, s-sorry that it’s u-under these conditions. 

“No matter, you look terrible. I’m sorry about that, we saw what happened when we first arrived.” Xisuma looked down at his screen, “I have a portal ready to take the two of you to a world.”

“Not hermitcraft?” Mumbo questioned

“No, Grian needs time to recover, and I don’t think a place full of people is the best place to do it.” Xisuma sighed, “He he’s been through a lot, and right now he’s not in the best mental state, you’re his closest friend, so I think that you should be the one to help him heal.” 

“Mmm tired,” Grian mumbled, “mmm so tired Mumbo.” 

Mumbo’s heart melted a little, “sleep Grian, you’re safe, it’s okay. I’ll be there when you wake up.” 

_ Six Months Later _

Grian swooped down from the sky. He let out a whoop as he soared over the open field. Mumbo, the dumb spoon was blissfully unaware of the hybrid. The avian crashed landed right in front of the vampire.    
  


“Fuck, Grian!” Mumbo yelped at the mess of limbs and feathers in front of him, “Warn a man next time.” 

Grian let out a burst of laughter, “Ha, you should’ve seen your face!” 

It had been a long recovery time. The longest portion of which was getting Grian accustomed to eating regular food again. Unsurprisingly going without proper food for long periods of times fucks your body up badly. Bad to the point of throwing up anytime you eat anything besides chicken stock or water. 

The other reason that it was so long was due to Grian’s injured wing. It took three months for it to be healed properly, and that was after Stress had been able to break the bone so that it could mend like it was supposed to. But Mumbo had stayed with him through it all, even when Grian had nearly blasted him in the face after a nightmare. After all the panic attacks, and guilt, and the days where Grian couldn’t get out of bed because the sadness was too much. 

Grian had never thought he’d be able to be happy again, not after all the mental, emotional, and physical trauma he’d gone through. But yet he was able to smile, to laugh, to not feel guilty. He was living, and after all isn’t that what Taurtis had wanted. 

“So what are the hermits?” Grian asked

“One big happy dysfunctional family.” Came the response from the old man. The rest of the group laughed, and Mumbo smiled, as he wrapped his arm around the avian. Everything was going to be okay.

A portal glowed, and a winged figure fell out onto the ground. The portal disappeared leaving it’s traveler collapsed, and alone. And it was cold, very very cold. Not surprising since she was lying face first in the snow. A small meow broke the silence, and a cat with pale blue eyes stepped onto the cold ground, and batted at a stray white feather. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh ho ho, is Icy actually adding lore for her main story into this. Btw I made a reference to Far somewhere, I wanna see if any of you can find it. Then I wanna see your guys theories for her, since I've barely given any info on her. 
> 
> BTW I absolutely love reading your comments, I actually have a separate folder in my email, specifically for the kudos and comments that I receive. All of them make me so happy. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Yes there will be a chapter two. Mumbo does come save Grian, don't worry.


End file.
